We Gave 2 Chefs £500 Each to Buy Kitchen Equipment

We've increased our Chefs' budget to £500 to show us what they'd buy to kit out a kitchen from scratch, from two perspectives!

In this year's Sorted Live summer streamed weekend show, we are aiming to create the largest community produced live show on the internet. So we're going to need your help!

The concept is set around being washed up on a beach, so which formats, themes, food and crazy challenges should we be taking on? Let's do this!!

Time to CANCEL your boring dinners!

The awesome benefits of the Sidekick app:
- Unlock your kitchen confidence to discover awesome new ingredients and dishes
- Reduce the stress of deciding what to cook EVERY day
- Grocery shopping made simple, with an automatically-generated list
- Cook more sustainably & reduce your food waste

[flipfloppoet]

I'm not sure Ben realizes how helpful his buy is. If you're starting your first apartment, or have a child move out into their first own home, this is incredibly helpful. A first starter kit kind of thing that isn't the most expensive, nor the cheapest, but decent and many items are multi-purpose. Amazing!!

[GhostOfRazgiz]

You should do a stone soup episode. Basically tell everyone at Sorted to bring an ingredient from home, don't tell them why or let them plan with others. Then have the main team create a singular dish using every ingredient. Only spices, herbs, etc that someone brings can be used. No pantry or staple ingredients. The only exception is water.

[hollyw]

my biggest hack at uni is to use my knockoff micro plane to strain things like pasta, just hold against the pan and tip the water out. saves washing up and is so easy

[dwn]

i see an increasing number of comments saying the same thing, but i must also add my two cents in and say that mike is such a great host, emcee, moderator, whatever you want to call it. it's obvious in the pub podcasts too. he's engaging, clearly shows the interviewee that he's listening, and sometimes asks the kinds of questions i'd never have thought to ask myself but would like the answers to in hindsight. he's just excellent.

and here is the obligatory ebbers and kush are excellent also, as always

[dashkataey]

I think Ebber's approach is correct 99% of the time. While yes, a good knife and pan are great, a home cook is going to eventually run into problems with things they want to make but either can't do or can't do it easily. If you're starting out cooking, getting more usable equipment is going to help a lot more by making cooking less stressful than trying to juggle cooking with only one pan or not having the utensils that would make things easier.

[aardvarkmaximus]

The two approaches are what you'd do at different stages of your cooking career. Starting out then do what Ben did and get 'mediocre' everything, then when it's time to upgrade you go Kush's route as you know what you use the most and how you use it.

Both are valid, it just depends on where in life you are.

[AuskaDezjArdamaath]

About 20 years ago, when I moved into my first apartment and started with nothing, IKEA used to sell these basic kitchen sets for about $100 or so that had everything to get you started. It had 2 knives, a couple pots + a pan, basic kitchen utensils (which I still have) like spoons, a ladle, peeler, colander. I still have some of these still while I’ve replaced many over the years with higher quality. But to get you started, I thought the kit was brilliant.

[JoeyKlu]

I can't think of any good jokey way to say this, so I'll be sincere: it truly is cool as hell to watch two professionals make food in such an artful way, and understanding why they use the tools they do is just great. Keep on, dudes.

[therese]

This makes me think we need a series of what you need in your kitchen if:
- you’re newly-weds
- you’re feeding a large family (7+ people)
- you like to host dinner parties
- and more!

[morgansm]

I would love to see you guys get together with (probably a couple of, with differing access needs!) disabled foodies to explore gadgets and techniques that disabled people use to make cooking more accessible to them - you've been pretty amazing at recognising in the kitchen gadgets when a gadget might be good for disabled cooks so it would be awesome to see that explored further! As a disabled watcher I'd love to see it and I'm sure I could get some ideas, but also for your able-bodied followers it might be helpful for them to see *why* certain products exist and understand how they're used!

[ukebec]

I believe you did this idea YEARS ago, but I'd like to see the chefs be given 500 pounds each (or an appropriate amount) to stock a durable goods pantry with the basics they believe every home cook should have on hand at all times. I'm talking down-and-dirty basics...flour, sugar, salt, spices, rice, tinned goods, oils...whatever is shelf-stable that they think should always be available. I'm especially interested in dried herbs and spices. I know fresh is best, but, especially for single people, fresh is not always the most cost-efficient or waste-proof choice. Thanks. ❤

[giantmoth]

CHOPSTICKS! they're amazing cooking utensils, they replace a whisk, fork or tongs and work better than any of them, they're great for stirring or flipping things on a pan, and the precission you get with them is amazing

[mariannegrochol]

Absolutely LOVE the chef segments! Kush- you show off, I love you. Ben, your practicality - I love you. For people who live in small spaces and need to watch everything, this is an excellent lesson in what to have for what you want to accomplish

[vickysanders]

Next equipment version could be £100 for chef and £1000 for normal. To see if the equipment makes a difference to skill.

[reiteration]

I love that Ben's choices are basically an ad for Sidekick, while Kush's are an ad for knives.

[Minderz]

I would love to see a similar video but starting from already having a basic kitchen. Like you have pans, knives and other basic things. What odd things would chefs buy to supplement a basic kitchen.

[DTS__]

I want to see student budget, and a size constraint. Has to fit in 1 cupboard because that's all you usually get in student digs, and cost the equivalent to a week of student earnings, so 16 hours on part time, so call it £160

[maromania]

The idea of Kush having cut half his fingers wanting to have the best knife on the first day of class is oddly wholesome XD Humble beginnings? Nerves? Makes me feel better about my own occasional cut. Even Kush started from somewhere!

[Tala_Masca]

Kush' choice is what you buy if you allready have a fully stocked kitchen and you love cooking and want to take some things next level . Ben's choice is if you're starting from scratch. Both really nice choices! Only thing I would change is a wetstone for charpening my knives.

[lynnettesue]

I live in Hawaii, so one thing that's missing is a rice cooker. I know Ben is of the mindset that you can make it in a pot, but having a good quality rice cooker is so nice. These days InstaPots do that too, so you'll also get the pressure cooker and slow cooker as well.